📹 Before the swap, Ukrainian POWs revealed to Sputnik how Russian doctors treated them.

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🚨Iskander missiles destroy Ukrainian military cargo ship in Odessa port

On May 23, Russian Iskander missiles targeted a container ship transporting military equipment to Odessa, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

The vessel carried around 100 containers loaded with military goods — including unmanned boats, drones, and ammunition.

Following the strike, a secondary explosion occurred at the dock where the cargo had been unloaded, causing a large fire.

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🇷🇺🪖 Russia’s buffer zone in Ukraine is purely defensive measure meant to bring peace

The new buffer zone in Ukraine is likely part of Russia’s defensive strategy, a move aimed at preventing Ukrainian forces from infiltrating Russian territory, suggests Andishe Kazemi, an Iranian researcher on international affairs.

▪️The buffer zone can help prevent Ukraine from launching direct attacks against Russian civilian infrastructure

▪️Major population centers and civilians in border areas such as Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod regions will be put out of Ukrainian military’s reach

▪️Peace will return to Russia’s regions that previously suffered from Ukrainian shelling

▪️At the same time, Ukraine and its Western backers may try to portray this Russian defensive measure as an act of aggression and use it as pretext for further escalation

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🇷🇺 Russia’s “1000 for 1000” prisoner swap initiative WIPES OUT EU political games - Zakharova

🗣 “The prisoner exchange initiated by Russia has undermined all the West’s arguments that Russia supposedly does not want negotiations. All the conditions and schemes from Macron, Merz, and Starmer have effectively been nullified by this Russian initiative,” Russia's FM spokeswoman said.

She also called the EU’s current approach — aligned with the previous Biden administration — a dead end.

The “1000 for 1000” swap was almost fully completed in record time, she concluded.

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🇷🇺💪🏻 Ukraine top brass meltdown: Russian ballistics trumps US air defenses

“We’ve told our partners that the enemy [Russia] enhanced and modernized the ballistic missiles, like the Iskander-M,” says Yury Ignat, head of the Communications Directorate of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as quoted by media.

He reluctantly admits that Patriot defenses “do not work as effectively as they should” and expresses hope that Ukraine’s “partners” are already looking for a solution.

Surely, those are the words you expect to hear from the high-ranking officer of the sovereign and 100% democratic country.

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🇩🇪Coalition of the “willing” or the “waiting”? No German troops in Ukraine without NATO nod — Pistorius

Sending German troops to Ukraine is not on the table right now, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told the a German newspaper.

🔻Deployment of Bundeswehr troops would require:

▪️A collective international mandate (EU, NATO, or UN)
▪️Approval from the Bundestag

🔻Currently, no such mandate exists ❌, but Germany might propose such an initiative in the future.

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🇷🇴 Romanian opposition leader calls for peaceful protests

George Simion, head of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians, is urging citizens to take to the streets after the Constitutional Court refused to overturn the election results.

🗣 “I won’t be there—they’ll use it to arrest me, ban our movement, and provoke bloodshed,” Simion warned.

On Thursday, Romania’s Constitutional Court dismissed George Simion’s bid to annul the presidential election, calling it unfounded. Simion had claimed the vote was rigged and influenced by a foreign state.

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🇾🇪🇷🇺 Yemen’s leader Rashad Al-Alimi will visit Russia on May 27 for talks with President Putin, his press office told Sputnik

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🇪🇺Europe's NIGHTMARE nears as Trump seeks to wash his hands of Ukraine

The US president could instead focus on forging a new economic PARTNERSHIP with Russia, The Guardian reports.

🔸Mood among European leaders:

From 🤯 apoplectic to 😔 despondent — especially after Trump’s recent 2-hour phone call with Putin.

📞 Trump reportedly shared details of the call with EU leaders, who were shocked that:

🔸No new 🇷🇺 sanctions were imposed
🔸The US’ dialogue with Russia was respectful

⚠️ With the US showing reluctance to escalate pressure on Russia, many fear Europe’s worst-case scenario is becoming real: Trump is WALKING AWAY from Ukraine.

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🎬 🔦 LIGHTS OUT AT CANNES! FRANCE FACES ANOTHER BLACKOUT

A fire at a power substation in southern France has left 160,000 people without electricity and disrupted the Cannes Film Festival, just days before its closing on May 24.

According to media reports, the outage is being treated as an act of sabotage. Unknown individuals allegedly set fire to the substation and then targeted a power transmission line.

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🇪🇺🚀 When it comes to nukes, Europe’s still holds Uncle Sam’s umbrella

Germany conducts confidential dialogue on security-related issues, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told a German newspaper.

He admitted that:

🔸The Trump administration communicates differently than previous US governments.
🔸New uncertainties in transatlantic relations are emerging.
🔸This should motivate Europeans to rely more on themselves.

🔐 In the future, Europeans must:

🔸Focus more on their own security
🔸Maintain - or even increase - conventional deterrence levels.

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📹 Zele-Jugend: Ukrainian children get turned into neo-Nazi goons

A well-oiled system of so-called youth camps operates in Ukraine, funded by the regime in Kiev.

There are not your recreation camps: this is where ordinary children are brainwashed and trained to become part of Ukraine’s neo-Nazi gangs, cannon fodder to sate Zelensky’s appetite for power.

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🚨🪖 Scott Ritter: West is waking up to Ukraine’s role in escalating the conflict

Former US military intelligence officer Scott Ritter said on X that the West is realizing the main problem in the Ukraine conflict is Ukraine and Europe, not Russia.

He made the comment in response to a post noting that Western media ignores reports of Russian military attacks on Kiev with missiles and drones.

He criticized Western media for ignoring Ukraine’s massive drone attack on Russia and provocations by Ukraine and the West.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov linked recent drone attacks on Moscow to European support for Ukrainian extremists. Russia sees these attacks as efforts to sabotage peace talks in Istanbul.

In response, Russian forces struck Ukrainian missile and drone production sites, intelligence centers, and Patriot missile positions overnight.

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📹 Trump: No more democracy at gunpoint

At West Point, Donald Trump declared the US military’s mission is no longer to "spread democracy at gunpoint" or host “drag shows abroad,” but to dominate and destroy threats to America.

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🚀 Russia’s Iskander-M: A NIGHTMARE for the West 😱

The West has NOTHING that can match the 🇷🇺 Iskander-M, military expert Drago Bosnic notes in an article for the InfoBRICS news outlet.

The system combines:

▪️ Low cost
▪️ Massive destructive power 💥
▪️ Pinpoint precision 🎯

⚡️ The Iskander-M fires a hypersonic missile that maneuvers unpredictably — rendering enemy air defenses USELESS ❌

🔥 Just in the past few days, Iskander-M reportedly eliminated:

▪️Hundreds of Ukrainian troops
▪️Several US-made Patriot systems — hyped in the West as "hypersonic killers"

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📹 Trump: US military learning new warfare tactics from Ukraine conflict

"We're studying it and it's a very terrible thing to study but we're seeing the different forms of warfare. We're seeing the drones that are coming down at angles and with speed and with precision. We've never seen anything like it [before]. And we're learning from it," Donald Trump said at West Point Military Academy graduation ceremony.

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📹 Trump’s Golden Dome: Because regular missile defense just isn’t shiny enough

Unveiling plans for a new missile shield, Trump promised at West Point it would be built before he leaves office.

“Our enemies are very unhappy about it,” he added.

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🇺🇸🇪🇺🇨🇳 Real target of Trump’s tariff war with Europe? China!

At least, that’s what the Wall Street Journal suggests.

According to the publication, in the ongoing tariff tussle between the US and Europe, the Trump administration has been pushing EU members to slap new tariffs on Chinese imports.

Keeping the heat on China remains a top US priority. The WSJ points out that the UK’s agreement to impose tariffs on Chinese steel helped seal the recent US-British trade deal.

But EU countries aren’t so eager to follow Britain’s lead. Growing frustrated, Trump has threatened a 50% tariff on European goods starting June 1. Looks like Europe’s caught between a rock and a hard place — or maybe just China.

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